Showing titles in Religious Intolerance

This book fundamentally changes the game for the Church of the Nazarene. A growing number of people are calling for fresh conversations about sexuality and gender. And many want fundamental change. This book gives voice to those people. There are strong reasons the Church of the Nazarene should become fully LGBTQ+ affirming. The writers of these essays – whether queer or straight – lay out those reasons, share their experiences, and explain why change is needed. Love rests at the heart of the denomination’s view of God. And yet its statement about human sexuality does not support the ...

I was told it is demonic and not to mess with it. It is Satan worship, they said. There are witches calling themselves mediums who communicate with evil spirits posing as our deceased loved ones. The Bible clearly teaches against Spiritualism I was told. If I get involved, even if I just attend one service at a Spiritualist church, I risk becoming possessed by a demon, my soul will be in jeopardy of being cast into Hell for all eternity when I die, I was warned. Whatever “Spiritualism” they were talking about I haven’t found. The Spiritualism I have come to know is a Godly religion of...

Never has this book been more timely. Religious intolerance, the resurgence of fundamentalism, hate crimes, repressive laws, and mass shootings are pervasive in today’s world. Selina O’Grady asks how and why our societies came to be as tolerant or intolerant as they are; whether tolerance can be expected to heal today’s festering wound between Islam and the post-Christian West; or whether something deeper than tolerance is needed.

Things are chaotic in America. Liberal policies are advancing. A rash of executive orders appears to be moving the nation closer to socialism and a one-world government. And conservatives, including many Christians, are being censored as never before. In some ways, Christians cancel each other in debates over non-essentials. There is no going backward if we want to remain effective and engaged. We can take the initiative and move forward from where we are. This book will assess and affirm the different approaches playing out.

In Crucible of Light, Elizabeth Drayson pulls together the epic interwoven history of the Muslim and Christian worlds over an eight-hundred-year span, taking in the conquest and re-conquest of Spain, the meteoric rise of Arabo-Norman Sicily, the Ottoman renaissance of the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the ebb and flow of Balkan history and the fate of contested islands like Cyprus and Malta, with their very different outcomes.

The Limits of Faith: The Failure of Faith-based Religions ------Is faith belief in something without proof? And if so is there never to be any proof or discovery? If so what is the need of intellect? If faith is trust in something that is real is that reality historical, literal or metaphorical or philosophical? If knowledge is an essential element in faith why should there by so much emphasis on believing and not on understanding in the modern practice of religion? This volume is a compilation of essays related to the nature of religious faith in the context of its inception in human ...

While most of us have heard about Christians suffering for their faith, we tend to think "persecution" mainly impacts believers in times past or in hostile nations today, far removed from our daily lives. But this eye-opening book describes the various stages of persecution, revealing that persecution is something all followers of the Way can expect to face in this fallen world. Trouble on the Way will not only help listeners recognize persecution in all its forms but enable them to stand firm against it.

In 2004, Julie Rowe was a happy wife and mother. Then her health took a turn for the worse. While in a weakened state, her spirit left her body and entered the Spirit World. An ancestor named John greeted her there and showed her many wonderful places. He also allowed Julie to read from the Book of Life, which showed her a panorama of the earth's past, present, and future. These scenes included the Savior's mortal life, along with his crucifixion and resurrection.

Is it OK for me to be both LGBTQ and Christian? If I accept my LGBTQ identity, am I living in sin? Is it possible to be LGBTQ and truly follow Jesus? For many Christians, the answer to these questions has felt like a heartbreaking NO—leaving them feeling isolated, ashamed, and forced to choose between their faith and their identity. In this compassionate and empowering guide, Chase Faulkner and Steven Todd Bryant share their journeys and offer five transformative strategies that blend theology, psychology, and spirituality, helping you find peace with yourself and with Christ—without ...

A noted biblical scholar explores how the claim of divine choice has been used from ancient times to the present to justify territorial expansion and prejudice.

On 14 February 1989, Valentine's Day, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist and told that he had been "sentenced to death" by the Ayatollah Khomeini. For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime? To have written a novel called The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being "against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran". So begins the extraordinary story of how a writer was forced underground, moving from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team.

Drawing inspiration from philosophy, history, and literature, Martha C. Nussbaum takes us to task for our religious intolerance, identifies the fear behind it, and offers a way past fear toward a more equitable, imaginative, and free society, through the consistent application of universal principles of respect for conscience.

When a murderous psychopath goes on a killing spree, law enforcement officials and the media never make his religion the central issue - unless he happens to be a Muslim. Then it sets off another frenzied wave of commentary about the inherent evils that lurk within the Muslim faith. From Fox News talking heads, who regularly smear Muslim leaders as secret terrorists, to Bill Maher, who has made Islam a routine target, it has become widely acceptable to libel a religion with a following of over 1.5 billion people.

In It's Dangerous to Believe, Mary Eberstadt documents how people of faith - especially Christians who adhere to traditional religious beliefs - face widespread discrimination in today's increasingly secular society. Eberstadt details how recent laws, court decisions, and intimidation on campuses and elsewhere threaten believers who fear losing their jobs, their communities, and their basic freedoms solely because of their convictions.

Eye-opening accounts of heroic resistance to religious extremism. From Karachi to Tunis, Kabul to Tehran, across the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and beyond, these trailblazers often risked death to combat the rising tide of fundamentalism within their own countries. But this global community of writers, artists, doctors, musicians, museum curators, lawyers, activists, and educators of Muslim heritage remains largely invisible, lost amid the heated coverage of Islamist terror attacks on one side and abuses perpetrated against suspected terrorists on the other.

In our increasingly secular world, holy texts are at best seen as irrelevant, and at worst as an excuse to incite violence, hatred and division. So what value, if any, can Scripture hold for us today? And if our world no longer seems compatible with Scripture, is it perhaps because its original purpose has become lost? Today we see the Quran being used by some to justify war and terrorism, the Torah to deny Palestinians the right to live in the Land of Israel, and the Bible to condemn homosexuality and contraception.

From one of the most prolific young spiritual writers of our time comes a fresh look at the Gospel of Luke, in an effort to answer this single question: What did Luke actually want us to see in Jesus? The answer waiting for you in this book is sure to transform your vision, and your life, if you let it. Through the stories of 18 “Outsider” characters (like the Blind Beggar, the Rich Ruler, the Sinful Woman, and so many more), David will take you on a journey to see the living Christ in a way you never have before.

Inside Syria and Iraq, and even along the refugee trail, they’re a religious minority persecuted for their Christian faith. Outside the Middle East, they’re suspect because of their nationality. A small remnant of Christians is on the run from the Islamic State. If they are wiped out, or scattered to the corners of the earth, the language that Jesus spoke may be lost forever - along with the witness of a church that has modeled Jesus’ way of nonviolence and enemy-love for two millennia.

La bruja habita dentro y fuera de nosotros, vagando en senderos olvidados, aguardando en territorios familiares y en la oscuridad de la habitación que es nuestra mente. Las brujas han habitado en las sombras de la noche mucho antes de que decidiéramos cazarlas, se han presentado ante la humanidad bajo múltiples máscaras, deformadas e instrumentalizadas por el poder. Pero entre todas ellas, hay una máscara que jamás desaparece, aquella que personifica nuestros miedos más primitivos, y que, al mismo tiempo, nos atrae.

Religion-related violence is the fastest spreading type of violence worldwide. Attacks on religious minorities follow a clear pattern and are preceded with early warning signs. Until now, such violence had no name, let alone a set of policies designed to identify and prevent it. A unique attempt to create a new moral and legal category alongside other forms of persecution and mass murder, Religicide explores the roots of atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Bosnian war, and other human rights catastrophes.